


Everyday

by Megaeevee



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: M/M, Physical Abuse, Seriously slow, Slow Burn, Swearing, violence but nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 19:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5941177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megaeevee/pseuds/Megaeevee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Idiot boys learning how to talk to each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The wooden gate creaked as the boy opened it. Looking around disdainfully, he strode up the overgrown path toward the house. He rang the doorbell and waited on the doorstep, listening to the sounds of activity from within.

After a moment the door swung open, revealing a boy with purple bangs and brown hair swept up into a ponytail.

‘’Listen, whatever you’re selling, we’re not buy- oh, it’s you,’’ Rex said. He stepped aside to let Weevil in.

‘’What happened to _you_?’’ Weevil sneered as he walked in. He was referring to the flour smeared all over Rex’s face and on the apron he was wearing over his yellow shirt.

He snorted. ‘’Try having six younger siblings and see how clean _you_ are at the end of the day,’’ Rex said as he led the way to the living room.

Everything about the place was old, apart from some of the people in it. Napping in a dated armchair was the oldest woman you had ever seen, with the oldest cat you had ever seen sitting in her lap. Her eyes, when open, were sharp as a raptor’s.

In the middle of the floor was a play mat. A toddler was sitting on it playing with some toy dinosaurs. He looked up when Rex and Weevil entered, but looked down disinterestedly after a moment. From upstairs, the boys could hear the sounds of two or three sets of feet charging about, and several voices yelling.

They walked through the living room to the kitchen. It was small and messy, with a table in the centre and toys scattered about the floor. In one of the corners was a travel cot with a sleeping baby inside. On one of the counters were ingredients and a mixing bowl- what Rex had been doing before Weevil got there.

Weevil, well accustomed to Rex’s house and the routine they had fallen into, went straight to the table and sat down, while Rex went back to the mixing bowl.

‘’Where’s your mum?’’, Weevil asked as he took his homework out of his bag.

‘’Working. Won’t be back till later.’’ Rex paused and turned around. ‘’You sleeping over tonight?’’

Weevil nodded without looking up. He seemed focused on his homework but Rex thought he looked nervous.

‘’Alright,’’ he said. ‘’But you better not kick me outta bed this time.’’ Rex remembered a few nights ago when he’d ended up on the floor.

Weevil scowled. ‘’Just be thankful I don’t make you sleep on the floor, dino- brain!’’ 

‘’It’s my house! If you want a bed to yourself, why don’t you sleep in your own for once?’’ Rex said.

Weevil was silent. He turned back to his homework, but wasn’t even pretending to do it anymore. Rex, sensing that’d he’d struck a nerve but not knowing how, just turned back to the mixing bowl.

He had never asked before why Weevil always wanted to sleep over. At first he thought he just didn’t want to listen to his sister and her new boyfriend going at it all night, but thinking about it, it didn’t really make sense. Sure, their rooms were right next to each other, but Weevil could just move. It wasn’t as if the place didn’t have enough bedrooms for both of their families combined- and Rex had a _lot_ of siblings.

As he cracked eggs, he began to think of other reasons Weevil would want to sleep over all the time. His parents were always working abroad and all his sister seemed to care about at the moment was her boyfriend, so maybe he was lonely?

Rex paused for a moment, listening to the sounds of Weevil finally starting his homework behind him.

Could Weevil really be lonely? Somehow, Rex didn’t think so. Weevil used to be alone all the time, usually by his own choice, because he said he didn’t like people. Even now the only people he talked to on a regular basis were his sister and Rex’s family.

He started spooning the mixture into cake cups. So then, what could be wrong?

Rex bit his lip. Despite everything, he _cared_ about Weevil and wanted to know if there was something wrong. He just couldn’t think what it could be.

He thought about it in silence for a few more minutes but the sound of the front door opening and footsteps running towards the kitchen drove all those thoughts from his head. Rex knew who it would be before he even saw her.

‘’Rexy!’’ A little girl appeared in the doorway and instantly ran over to Rex, hugging him around the middle. She looked like Rex, with short brown hair and brown eyes.

‘’Hey Rosie,’’ Rex said. His sister stepped back, and smiled up at him. He leant against the counter and folded his arms. ‘’You’re late. Your brother told me you got held back after school. What happened?’’

Her smile faded as she walked over to the table and dropped her bag next to a chair, before hopping on. Instead of answering her brother she leant over to see what Weevil was writing.

‘’Hi Weevil,’’ she said, and then giggled. ‘’Why are you putting letters and numbers together like that? They don’t go together- that’s why they’re separate subjects, silly!’’

Weevil glanced over at her before looking down at his homework. ‘’This is algebra. You’re _supposed_ to put them together, that’s the whole point.’’ He paused and looked at her school bag. ‘’Suppose you want help with your homework, since dino-dung over there’s too stupid to do it.’’ He looked up at Rex and smirked.

‘’Hey, I’m smart enough to help a six year old with her homework!’’ Rex glared back, before turning around to put the cupcakes in the oven. When he turned back, Rose had her homework out and was scribbling down answers with her good hand as Weevil distractedly tried to explain division.

He watched them work for a moment before walking over to sit at the other side of the table.

‘’So, Rose, you were saying?’’ Normally he wouldn’t care all that much about her being held back, but it had been happening more frequently and he was worried that something was seriously wrong.

She sighed dejectedly before mumbling, ‘’my teacher got me in trouble again, even though it wasn’t my fault!’’

Rex frowned. He hated that school- that’s why he never went. They were horrible at dealing with Rosie.

When they were younger they used to live in a caravan. But Rex’s dad- who has long since left- got in trouble with some loan sharks, and when he couldn’t repay the money, they got angry. Finally, after months of having them come banging on the door demanding money, they got tired and realised they weren’t going to get their money and set the caravan on fire as revenge. With Rose inside.

No one else was hurt, but Rose escaped with some burns on her right side. She recovered fine but she had never been the same since. She seemed to invite trouble and could be seriously mean to people she didn't like. 

Now they live in a house provided by the government, but their mother still can’t afford to send Rose to therapy.

Rex sighed. He’d tried explaining to the teachers, but they hadn’t been very understanding. For now all he could do was try to cheer her up, and call her teacher later.

‘’Well, uh… why don’t you do your homework later and we’ll go watch Jurassic Park, okay?’’ he said, putting aside his worries for a while.

Rose brightened up immediately and scrambled to stuff her work back into her bag, before running through to the living room. Rex stood up as well but stopped when he saw that Weevil wasn’t following.

‘’You coming?’’ he asked.

Weevil glanced up at him then at the living room door doubtfully. ‘’You’ve made me watch that movie a thousand times already, stupid. I practically know it off by heart.’’

Rex grinned and leaned against the back of the chair. ‘’Come on,’’ he whined. ‘’We always watch Jurassic Park when we’re at my house.’’

‘’That’s my point,’’ Weevil snapped irritably, but he was already tidying away his stuff, probably knowing that if he didn’t, Rex would get all five of his little brothers on him.

Rex smirked victoriously and turned to go through to the living room, nothing worrying him except whether or not the movie would wake his grandmother. 


	2. Chapter 2

Rex lay squashed against the wall, trying very hard not to wake Weevil, who was sleeping pressed up against him in the tiny bed. He was trying to sleep but his thoughts kept straying back to earlier in the day when Weevil had come to his house after school, like he always did.

Rex frowned. Weevil _always_ came to his house after school now, even if he didn’t end up staying for the night- which he usually did. When Rex had asked him about it earlier, he had remained silent and Rex had decided not to push.

He did wonder though. His earlier thoughts on the subject were interrupted by his sister coming home from school late, but Rex had already come to the conclusion that Weevil was not lonely, or trying to avoid having to hear his sister and her boyfriend every night.

Weevil shifted away from Rex in his sleep, and he froze. He knew from first-hand experience that Weevil did _not_ like being woken up. Biting his lip, he waited with baited breath but, thankfully, Weevil was still sleeping. Very carefully, Rex turned over so he was facing him.

A smile slipped onto his face- Weevil looked so different when he was sleeping. He wasn’t frowning or smirking or insulting him and Rex liked it that way.

The thought that something was bothering him enough that he was purposely avoiding his own house upset Rex far more than he would have expected.  He sighed, thinking back over the time he had known Weevil.

They hadn’t gotten along when they first met, and still didn’t get on very well now, but Rex was pretty sure Weevil was the first real friend he’d ever had. He wanted to show that friendship now by finding out what was wrong and fixing it.

Unfortunately, he had no idea where to start.  He knew that if he kept pushing Weevil would give in but that gave him a bad feeling. Because of all the bullying he faced, Weevil did not respond well to any kind of force. Sure, he’d give you what you wanted but he’d never trust you again.

Rex wasn’t really sure what set him apart from the bullies in Weevil’s eyes- he’d never exactly been the gentle sort, especially before they’d really gotten to know each other. Even earlier today had been unusually peaceful for them.

Maybe if he just left it things would somehow sort themselves out.

Weevil was looking at him. As soon as he noticed, Rex jerked back, hitting his head off the wall. Weevil just glared sleepily.

“What are you doing?” Rex whispered. He couldn’t remember Weevil waking up.

“Why were you staring at me?” He whispered back. They were really too close in the bed but Rex had nowhere to go.

“I wasn’t staring at you. I was just thinking about, uh… some stuff.” _Smooth._

“You were staring at me!” Weevil was frowning again and Rex really wished he knew how to make him stop. “What ‘stuff’ were you thinking about?”

“Uh…” _Oh shit,_ he thought. _I can’t tell him the truth. Or can I?_ “I was thinking about what we talked about earlier. You know, about why you always come to my house after school.”

Immediately, Weevil drew back, with a true glare on his face now. “That’s none of your business.” And then he turned over.

 _Great going, Rex. Good job, really._ He sighed. He thought briefly about trying to make amends but he knew Weevil would need time to cool off. With a sigh, Rex turned back over and tried once again to go to sleep.

 


	3. Chapter 3

When he woke up the next morning, Rex was alone in bed. He could hear plenty of noise from downstairs which meant that everyone else was awake. It was 7am. He sat up and looked about the messy room. It was small but he didn’t have to share it with anyone else (except Weevil). You could always tell what stuff was Weevil’s because he put everything away neatly whereas Rex just kind of dumped it wherever - hence the food wrappers and such laying around.

Swinging his legs out of bed, Rex ran a hand through his hair. The faded blue walls and dinosaur bedsheets made the room look like it belonged to someone much younger but if you looked closely you could tell that it was usually inhabited by two teenage boys.

As he picked his way across the room Rex wondered if Weevil would remember last night and still be mad. He really hoped not.

 _Oh my God,_ thought Rex as he stepped into the hall, _it kind of sounds like we had sex last night or something._ At that thought he went bright red and buried his face in his hands, too embarrassed by it to even process it properly. As a result, he didn’t even think to knock on the bathroom door and just walked right in-

On Weevil with his shirt pulled up, inspecting a huge bruise on his side.

For a second, neither of them could move. For a split second, Rex could only stare at Weevil’s chest.

Then Weevil was scrambling to pull his shirt down and Rex was taking two steps into the tiny bathroom to grab his wrists. He pulled them away from the other boy’s side, where he was attempting to cover the bruise, so he could inspect the injury.

It covered the entire area from his hip to just below his ribs and, if the colour of it was any indication, it was clearly pretty old. Rex wondered why Weevil hadn’t told him about this, or how he hadn’t noticed it himself.

‘’Let go! Get _off!_ ” Weevil shouted as he tried to pull his wrists free. Rex frowned- Weevil was being unusually touchy about this.

“I just want to see it!” But Weevil wasn’t having any of it and he continued to try and twist free.

Weevil wasn’t a strong boy but neither was Rex, really, so they ended up in a wrestling match in the tiny bathroom. Rex was trying to be careful in case he hurt him more but Weevil had no problems kicking and elbowing where he could.

They wrestled for a few minutes, neither gaining the upper hand, until Rex’s mother shouted up the stairs, telling them to be quiet and hurry up and get ready for school. Weevil took advantage of the lull in the fight to slip free.

Rex stared at Weevil from across the room but Weevil wouldn’t look up to meet his eyes.

“What was that?”

“None of your business.” Weevil brushed past Rex and started heading for the stairs. Rex stood in the doorway and wondered what he could do.

“That’s what you said last night! You can’t use that excuse every time. If someone’s picking on you again, just tell me,” Rex shouted after him.

“And you’ll do what?” Weevil paused at the top of the stairs and sneered. “Your life is pathetic enough without adding my problems on too.”

And with that, he stormed downstairs. If his family hadn’t been downstairs, Rex would have chased after him and they would have fought some more. As it was, he had to make do with stomping to his room to get ready for school.

As he was getting ready, Rex tried to get a handle on his anger. It was hard though, because he had just been trying to help. Add that to the fact that his mother would have heard the yelling and Weevil was no doubt downstairs right now telling her whatever twisted version of events would make him look good. It was no wonder the guy didn’t have many friends, really.

 _Well, if there’s one thing that fight told me,_ thought Rex, _it’s that this thing with Weevil is worse than I thought. Which means it’s probably not going to go away on its own._

He didn’t even know why he was so worried. Weevil got bullied every day at school- just because he had a worse bruise than normal, didn’t mean it was anything serious.

But bullies at school didn’t cause him to stop going home or get abnormally defensive about bruises. Rex sighed and banged his head against the wall. Since they first became friends, there had never been a time when Weevil refused to tell him he was being picked on.


	4. Chapter 4

The walk to school was tense since they weren’t talking to each other. To be honest, Rex was relieved. Weevil was acting like he always did after they’d had an argument, even though their fight that morning was different than usual. Less petty.

Rex’s siblings had already left by the time he got down for breakfast, so they were alone. It was pretty unusual for Rex to even be going to school, especially after his mom got another job, but he wanted to keep an eye on Weevil. Besides, his grandma could handle it until he got back. Probably.

They didn’t exactly live in a big city, so the school wasn’t too far from Rex’s house. Weevil lived on the other side of town, a mere bus journey away, but when he first started coming over to Rex’s house all the time, he claimed it was so he wouldn’t have such a trip to school.

Their high school took students from all over town and it could be argued that they weren’t the weirdest kids there, for a change. It was a big building, easy to overlook someone if they weren’t in your classes – or even in your year, as was the case with Rex and Weevil.

When they got there, Weevil immediately took off. Rex stood at the gates and debated whether or not to follow him. On the one hand, he wanted to tail him to try to catch whoever was hurting his friend in the act. On the other hand, if Rex started following him right away, he’d definitely notice.

So he wandered around for a little while until he ran into the guys he’d hung around with before he became friends with Weevil. They weren’t popular guys but they all enjoyed history, like Rex, so they got along. Hanging out with them again reminded Rex of before he got into Duel Monsters, before he met Weevil.

He couldn’t deny that things had been simpler and easier back then. It made him uncomfortable to think about. But it also reminded him of back when he was just another teenager, before his mum had three jobs, before he stopped going to school, before he stowed away to America with Weevil.

His teacher must have noticed he really wasn’t listening, so she cut her lecture about how he was never in class short and sent him to his seat. It was English class, so he didn’t bother paying attention, as usual. Instead, he sat and worried about Weevil - and played through their entire relationship so far in his head, too.

He didn’t see Weevil again until lunch and even then it was only briefly in the cafeteria. Weevil had never eaten in there, instead choosing to go and sit at the farthest edge of school property he could (Weevil said it was so he could be with the bugs in peace, but Rex thought it was probably just to avoid everyone).

He decided it was time to start tailing the bug Duellist. Rex knew from experience that all the likely candidates for that bruise would strike at lunch, simply because it was the only time Weevil could reliably be found in the same place and most of the bullies in their school were lazy. Rex decided not to think about what it would mean if it wasn’t one of the usual candidates. 

It was windy and cloudy outside. Rex hunched into his jacket and wondered what it said about Weevil that he’d rather be out here than in the school cafeteria.

He was in his usual spot, sitting against a tree at the edge of the sparse forest.  There was no one else in sight. Rex took a seat on one of the benches on the empty concrete surrounding the building. Lunch came and went and nobody showed up.

 _That doesn’t mean anything,_ Rex thought, still unnoticed, as he watched Weevil go back into school. But that didn’t stop the dread curling in his stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

Rex didn’t approach Weevil for the rest of the day. He knew from experience that distance was best when they fell out. He did, however, keep an eye on him for any signs of abuse. There were none, which was actually unusual.

Rex knew that _Weevil_ knew he was being watched. But neither of them confronted each other about it. This was also unusual.

When school was over, Rex walked home alone.

He didn’t know what to do about Weevil. _Maybe it was just a one-time thing. Maybe some random guy recognised him and decided to teach him a lesson - wouldn’t be the first time. But Weevil’s never hesitated to tell me about those things before._

However, his train of thought screeched to a halt when he got home. Rex sighed – the place was a mess. He knew he shouldn’t have left his grandma alone with the kids. He almost wished he _had_ stayed at home, where he could have convinced himself that Weevil’s problem was just another bully at school.

He didn’t get another chance to think about it for the rest of the day, too busy with chores and siblings.

~

That night, Rex lay awake for hours worrying about Weevil. The next day at school, they didn’t go near each other.

This pattern continued for three days until, on Friday, Weevil came approached Rex at the school gate. Neither boy said anything. Neither boy had anything to say – their relationship didn’t have a lot of room for apologies.

However, they both automatically started walking home, to Rex’s house. Silent reconciliation was how they usually made up, normally with pizza and a movie too. The fact that this hadn’t changed comforted Rex.

They spent the afternoon as they always did at Rex’s house – lounging in his room, yelling at his siblings, bitching at each other and playing Duel Monsters.

He watched Weevil carefully the whole time but, finding no sign of anything wrong, eventually decided to just let the whole thing go. Rex told himself that one unexplained bruise didn’t even have to mean anything.

When Weevil quietly asked if he could stay over that night, Rex just handed him another slice of pizza and said nothing.

“Rex…” Weevil began and then stopped. He had no idea what he was going to say. Things hadn’t been going well for him lately but Rex already suspected that.

“Yeah?” Weevil was picking at the worn couch, eyes on the film. Everyone else was in bed and Rex’s mum wasn’t due back for another couple of hours.

“Nothing. Never mind.” He didn’t know why he’d said anything in the first place. Rex couldn’t help him. If anything, he would make it worse.

For his part, Rex didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, too engrossed in the movie and the familiar feeling of sitting with Weevil on his old couch, watching a movie and complaining about their lives.

~

That night Rex lay awake again. Everything was fine and back to normal. _So why can’t I sleep?_

He was lying in his familiar room, with Weevil sleeping soundly next to him, no one was arguing or fighting with anyone else. Everything was good again.

_But that’s it, isn’t it? That’s what counts as good now; nobody’s fighting. Before… Before dad left, that would’ve been normal. And then I got into Duel Monsters and things were looking up… Until I made friends with Weevil and we lost at Duellist Kingdom. And we kept losing, more than just card games sometimes,_ Rex thought, an image of the Seal of Orichalcos in his mind.

He felt a sudden, sharp pang of longing for before, when things were simpler and easier.

He turned his head to look at Weevil, sleeping curled up against him in the tiny bed. The sight gave Rex a strange feeling in his gut.

_If this was still like before, then we’d never have become friends._


	6. Chapter 6

Things tried to go back to normal after that. If Rex happened to notice a few unusual bruises, he didn’t say anything. And if Rex happened to notice an increase in the funny butterfly feeling in his gut, well, he certainly didn’t say anything about that.

Eventually, these things became part of their normal routine and the fight faded to the back of their minds. Instead, they occupied themselves with Duel Monsters and video games and not doing their homework until the last minute.

However, Rex could never quite get used to the little shocks he felt when Weevil casually brushed against him, or the strange warm feeling when they shared a bed or food or clothes. If he had examined these feelings he probably (maybe) could have figured out what they meant. As it was, every time Rex started feeling weird he firmly told himself that these were perfectly natural feelings to have for your best friend.

One day they were hanging out at the park, trying to act like they weren’t there babysitting. Kind of hard when they had to keep shooing Rex’s brothers and Rosie away.

They were sitting at a picnic bench playing Duel Monsters. It was uncomfortably warm and they were lucky to have gotten a table in the shade. The bench was pretty far from the actual play area and there were so many other children there that they didn’t really have a hope of spotting any of their charges in amongst them.

Being so far from the park had other advantages too – namely, no one being able to recognise them from so far away. Since Duellist Kingdom, they had avoided as much contact with their peers as possible.

After six turns the Duel was just starting to heat up. Rex was in the lead but he knew it wouldn’t do to get cocky yet; from the look on Weevil’s face, he was just about to play something potentially devastating. Rex tried to run through all of the bug Duellist’s cards in his head, to guess which one he was about to play.

As Rex was considering which of his cards to use, he happened to glance up and see two of their ‘friends’ from school.

“Weevil, we’ve got company,” Rex warned. Luckily they hadn’t been seen yet. Jorden and Rory weren’t the biggest fishes in the pond, but they could be quite nasty when the opportunity arose.

Weevil quickly turned around and spotted them standing together at the edge of the playground. He swallowed. Jorden was a Grade A creep, fanatically religious and yet he was always harassing the girls at school. Rory was just an angry guy – really touchy but nothing to worry about on his own.

Weevil was sure they hadn’t been looking for them but he was still nervous. Those two together spelled out a beating.

He turned back to Rex. “Just act natural. They can’t see us from there, we’ll be fine.” He smirked. “Now hurry up and make your move, Dino-breath, so I can finish this.” The jibe at Rex helped calm his nerves from having those guys so close.

Rex looked uncertain for a moment before making his move. It was a good move, one Weevil would struggle to recover from. He frowned and wondered how Rex knew what card to play, how he knew what card Weevil was about to play.

Instead of picking a card, Weevil stared at Rex. He didn’t know how to feel about how well the other boy could read him.

He prided himself on being a good strategist and part of that involved not being easy to read. The fact that Rex knew him well enough to be able to predict his next moves meant that Weevil would have to seriously rethink his deck when he got home. Or back to Rex’s house, since that was where most of his stuff had migrated to.

He didn’t even notice that Rex’s gaze was focused somewhere behind them. In fact, the other boy wasn’t even pretending to be paying attention to the Duel. He was watching Jorden and Rory walk across the field towards them.


	7. Chapter 7

He tried to focus on the Duel but kept one eye on the bullies the whole time. He could see them over Weevil’s shoulder - they were walking the perimeter of the park, just casually strolling. Nothing to suggest they were looking for trouble, but guys like that always were.

  
Rex’s eyes strayed to the playground, searching out each of his siblings in turn, assuring himself that they were ok. Unfortunately, he found one of them talking to Jorden and Rory. The boys had probably recognised his brother from school.

  
If they know my family is here, then they know I’m here too. Rex glanced at Weevil but he appeared to be deep in thought over his next move, staring at his cards intently.

  
They had to get out of there but almost as soon as Rex thought this, Jorden and Rory had turned around and started walking their way. They were trying to appear casual but even from this distance, Rex could tell Rory was focused only on them.

  
He reached across the table and took the hand that was still trying to decide what card to play. Weevil looked surprised at the contact, the only thing that would have truly broken his concentration. Rex was glad that Weevil’s body was blocking the boys view of the table.

  
“They’re coming this way,” Rex said, tightening his grip when Weevil moved to look round. “Should we run?”

  
Weevil gulped. “I-If we run, they’ll definitely chase us. Maybe if we just stay here and ignore them, they’ll leave us alone.” It was a naïve hope – but Rex supposed they were both used to placing all their bets on wild dreams. So he withdrew his hand and put all his concentration on not glancing up.

  
Weevil played his next card, but his mind wasn’t on the Duel anymore and it was a sloppy move. Rex hardly glanced at his hand before he played a card. He desperately wanted to look up but he knew what was inevitable – and he knew from experience that seeing it coming wasn’t always better.

  
Weevil didn’t get a chance to play another card before two shadows fell across their table. Nobody said anything and neither Duellist glanced up, trying to postpone the inevitable.

  
“Whoa, look who it is. We weren’t even looking for you today.” Jorden’s voice was mocking; Rex could hear the sneer on his face. He locked eyes with Weevil across the table. The message in the other boy’s eyes was clear – “Don’t react. Stay still”.

  
“Yeah, hey guys. What’re you up to?” Rory said. “Wait, lemme guess. Duel Monsters.” The boys took a second to laugh. “Am I right?”  
“Actually, we were just finishing. It’s time for us to head home.” Weevil’s voice was purposefully light.

  
He started to gather up his cards, keeping his eyes firmly on his task and not on the teenagers looming over them. Nobody said anything. Rex did the same but couldn’t stop the sick feeling in his gut at the fact that Jorden Carson was apparently just letting his victims walk away.

  
Both Duellists stood up and made to move past Jorden and Rory when they were stopped, Rex by Rory stepping in his way and Weevil by Jorden’s arm around him.

  
“How about we walk you home, then? Have a little chat on the way? Been a while since we all talked, hasn’t it, Rory?” Jorden’s arm was tight around Weevil’s shoulders and he started to march them over to the path going through the woods.

  
Rex followed helplessly, with Rory bringing up the rear. He glanced back at his family, playing safely in the park.

  
The trees were suffocating, hiding them from view. The four boys walked along the path, Jorden and Rory making casual small talk. It was mostly school related, with constant subtle jabs at Rex and Weevil. They walked until they came to a small trail leading off the main path.

  
Without a word, Jorden started leading them down it. Weevil desperately looked back at Rex; they both knew how this was going to end. The bullies had stopped talking now, allowing the anticipation and dread to build in the silence.

  
After a few minutes, Jorden started steering Weevil off the path. Rory was uncomfortably close behind Rex but the thought of running away and abandoning Weevil hadn’t even crossed his mind.

  
They didn’t go far, but it was far enough to be out of sight and hearing of anyone on the main path. Jorden pushed Weevil in front of him into a tree.

  
Weevil kept his back to the bark while desperately running their odds of escaping this unscathed. Weevil wasn’t a fighter, in any sense of the word. He wasn’t athletic, capable of outrunning their tormentors. He wasn’t kind or empathetic enough to talk anybody down. He was useless.

  
“So, where should we start?” Jorden asked Rory. All pretence of friendliness was gone now.

  
Rory cracked his knuckles but didn’t say word. It was a rhetorical question anyway. Jorden was the brains of the team, the leader; he alone would decide where to start. He looked his victims over with a critical eye, trying to decide what would be the most effective first strike. There was no rush – his prey had no options of escape.

  
Rex stood in between the bullies, with Jorden between him and Weevil. He wished he could go over there and try to offer him comfort in some secret way, but knew if he moved, if he even tried, it would set off a painful chain of events.

  
The anticipation was killing him. In some ways, he wished they would just get it over with.

  
Suddenly, Rory was right behind Rex, pulling his arms behind his back and Jorden was rearing back to deliver the first blow to his stomach. They had moved almost in sync, each knowing what the other was going to do – a by-product of working the schoolyard together for years.

  
Rex tried to double over as he was hit but Rory’s grip on him prevented that. Jorden then turned around and grabbed Weevil by his collar, kneeing him in the stomach and letting go so he could collapse on the ground, coughing weakly.

  
Rex glared at Jorden through his bangs. The other boy just grinned smugly and kicked Weevil in the side. He barely managed to groan, out of breath from the hit to his stomach. Weevil rolled over onto his front to try and protect himself, while trying to get his breath back.

  
All of Rex’s attention was focused on glaring Jorden to death so he wasn’t prepared for Rory’s rough shove. He ended up flat on his face next to Weevil, scraping his chin in the process. They caught each other’s eyes – Rex could tell Weevil was scared, less used to general violence than Rex was. Not surprising, considering Weevil grew up on a big family estate and Rex grew up in a trailer park.

  
After that, Rory really got into the game. He kicked Rex, anywhere he could reach, and would periodically get Weevil in the stomach to keep him down. At this point, Jorden was content to just watch. He’d gotten his kicks, excuse the pun, earlier and, as he sat on a tree stump to wait Rory out, he thought to himself that watching was the best part anyway.

  
When Rory finally wore himself out, Rex was left lying on the ground, in too much pain to get up. His back and sides ached the most but thankfully his face hadn’t taken any hits after the scrape on the way down. Even in a frenzy Rory was smart enough not to leave marks where people would see.

  
Physically, Weevil was much better but lying there watching his best friend get beat up and not being able to stop it… It was the helplessness that got to him, the bitter anger at once again being treated like they were nothing. It reminded him of Battle City and the Orichalcos, which was something he did not need to be thinking of.

  
Especially now, because he knew Jorden was not finished. Rory was the muscle, content to aim his punches anywhere his friend told him to, but Jorden was the ringleader, so he had to have the last word.

  
Weevil looked at Rex, trying to see how badly he was hurt. He knew Rex would be in a lot of pain in the following days and figured he’d probably have to stay at his own house, since Rex was always got really antisocial when he was hurt.

  
Jorden got up off the stump, where Rory promptly took his place, exhausted after the beating. Jorden circled the boys on the ground, a smugly proud grin on his face. Rex wanted to yell at him, get up and tell him they weren’t beaten yet, but they were. And it seemed like every time they were defeated a bit easier than the last.

  
“You didn’t even put up a fight this time. Have you finally given up? Or was that really your best attempt?” Jorden said.

  
Neither of them even tried to respond. Even though they had probably both recovered enough to get up, they knew if they just stayed down a little while longer, Jorden would get bored that much quicker.

  
“Or maybe you like getting the shit kicked out of you?” Jorden’s face lit up at his new idea. “Does it remind you how worthless you are?” He stood looking down on them. Rex glared up at him defiantly but Weevil just stared at a spot on the ground. “Does it distract you from thinking about how pathetic your lives are?”

  
Jorden quickly got frustrated when he didn’t get an answer. “Too afraid to even speak up? Its ok, I get it. I know we can be pretty intimidating sometimes.” Rory snickered. “Until next time then.”

  
With that last mocking remark, he started to saunter off back to the main path. Rory hurried to follow, looking back one last time to sneer at the boys on the ground over his shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and made some changes to ch1. nothing plot related, just changed Rosie's character a bit so not necessary to go back and reread

The bus was quiet, the summer evening light casting long shadows. Weevil sat at the back, trying not to draw attention to himself. It was just past seven, so he wasn’t even sure who would recognise him on the bus at this particular time, but he’d learned to always be cautious.

He leaned back heavily against his seat, going over how he was going to rearrange his deck, to distract himself from the pain in his abdomen. He’d left Rex at the park, gathering up his siblings.

They both preferred to be alone when initially inspecting their injuries. Weevil knew it was so they’d have a chance to clean themselves up before the other saw the injuries, to make them not look as bad as they actually were and to avoid looking weak in front of each other.

When the town had melted away and the scenery was replaced by upper class neighbourhoods, Weevil got up painfully, knowing his stop was soon.

The bus pulled to a stop and the driver looked at Weevil suspiciously as he got off. Weevil glared as he went past, but he knew he didn’t look as if he belonged in this sort of neighbourhood, with its long driveways and almost-mansions. It might have been the childish bug hoodie or the way he walked like he had been in a fight recently. Or maybe it was just the blue hair.

The bus drove away and Weevil started walking. He could see his house in the distance but it always took a while to get there from the bus stop, since all the houses in his street were far apart. Each house he passed had big sprawling gardens and was set far back from the road. They weren’t nearly as big as the Kaiba mansion but it was obvious that this was old money.

Weevil walked awkwardly and had to stop several times to recover from the pain in his stomach. He felt nauseous but he hadn’t thrown up yet, though he’d come close in the forest. In the end it took twenty agonising minutes to reach his house.

Weevil leaned heavily against the gates and pressed the buzzer. He could see the security camera swivel to look at him and knew the servant, probably Mr Vincent, on the other end would recognize him and buzz him in momentarily.

He stumbled through them as they opened, immediately feeling claustrophobic as they shut behind him. He started crunching down the gravel driveway, noting that the upstairs lights were on, meaning that his sister, Wendy, was home. The servants never turned on the upstairs lights if no one was going to need them.

The sun was really setting now and Weevil knew the daytime servants would all have left not too long ago. The only ones left would be the night time guard patrolling the perimeter and Mr Vincent. Mr Vincent didn’t have a title but Weevil’s parents employed him to live with them and make sure neither of their children were getting in trouble while they were away. Obviously, he sucked at his job and didn’t pay either child much attention. Weevil doubted if he even knew he’d been gone for days.

As he struggled up the front steps, he wondered if Wendy had noticed either.

He opened the door and walked across the dark entrance hall. There was a light on down one of the side halls where Mr Vincent usually holed himself up to drink whiskey and smoke cigars. Otherwise, the place was empty, the other hallways devoid of life.

Gripping the banister tightly, Weevil began to climb the grand staircase, one step at a time. He had to pause halfway up to regain his breath, but eventually he made it. He turned right at the top, heading to his and Wendy’s hallway. There were more lights on in this part of the house and he could see light coming from under Wendy’s door as he passed it.

He made his way past several other doors before he got to the bathroom. He went inside and flipped on the light, already unzipping his hoodie. He shrugged it off before removing his shirt too. There were many bruises on his stomach, the edges of which blended together to create a hideous dark red disaster. If he used the mirror he could also see several other green and blue bruises in other areas of his body.  

Weevil winced as he poked the newest ones but the pain was already lessening. He could feel that although they looked shocking, they weren’t as bad as other beatings he had gotten.

He wondered how Rex was doing. He’d definitely been in worse shape than Weevil but he’d never get any time to himself to recover. His house was always so full, the boys had to lock themselves in Rex’s room to get any privacy and even then the walls were paper thin. Even so, Weevil kind of wished he were there right now.

Which was stupid. Because if he was, then he’d have to pretend like he wasn’t in pain. Because there was no way he was letting Rex think he was weak. In fact, they’d have probably ended up doing something stupid and dangerous, just to prove to each other how ok they were, which would have ended in disaster. But at least Weevil wouldn’t have had to be alone.

Weevil froze and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a strange thought for him, to not want to be alone. For as long as he could remember, he’d felt alone – his parents were away for months at a time, Mr Vincent didn’t care, Wendy had never been interested in playing with him and he’d never had any friends.

Maybe he’d just gotten used to all the noise. Yeah, that was it; Rex’s house was always full of people, making noise at all hours of the day. He just wasn’t used to the quiet of his own house, that was all.

He kept telling himself that as he went to his bedroom. It was much larger than Rex’s room, with a double bed, although Rex had never been over to his house. There was bug memorabilia everywhere but Weevil had moved most of his toys and stuffed animals onto high shelves where they wouldn’t be noticed, in an effort to look more grown up. He had also replaced his bug duvet with a plain green one.  

 He started looking for his cards, to begin sorting out his new deck, and refused to think about the feelings that arose when he realised that he’d left most of his Duel Monsters cards at Rex’s house, and that he didn’t mind because he knew they’d be safe there.

After that, he gave up and went to bed, alone in a room that was too big for him.


	9. Chapter 9

Weevil slept peacefully, undisturbed by Rex’s snoring or restful kicks in the night. He wasn’t woken in the night by siblings squabbling through the thin walls, sleeping uninterrupted until morning.

It had been a while since he had woken up in his own bed and was therefore surprised when he woke up splayed across it. In fact, it took him a few moments to recognise his own smooth ceiling, so used to Rex’s cracked one, stained with a few of their misadventures.

He winced as he got up but the pain in his abdomen was much less than yesterday. Still, Weevil moved carefully as he got out of bed and went to the bathroom across the hall.

 After he had gotten ready for the day, he padded quietly down the hall. It was 9am on Sunday, a universal lazy day, so he wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t hear anything from Wendy’s room when he passed it.

Weevil made his way to the kitchen, not seeing any of the three daytime staff, although he knew they would be here by now. The hallways were decorated with expensive modern art and Weevil noticed a few new pieces in the entrance hall as he passed. Even though they were old money, the whole place was very modern, his sister having violently rejected the old decor and been unwilling to settle for anything less.

He froze in the doorway of the kitchen. Wendy’s boyfriend, Kai, was here.

He was standing making coffee, having obviously spent the night. But Weevil hadn’t seen his car out front, so he’d thought it was safe…

Kai had looked up when Weevil appeared in the door, his face a pleasant mask. Weevil cautiously approached, making sure to keep the kitchen counter between them at all times.

Kai was average in every respect, short brown hair and brown eyes, and Weevil often wondered what advantage Wendy got from dating him. She definitely didn’t like him, that was for sure.

They ignored each other as they made breakfast but Weevil couldn’t help but feel like this was just the calm before the storm. He was hoping to just be able to grab some toast and slip out. He would probably end up taking the bus into town and hanging around the mall alone all day. This was his least favourite part about getting beaten up; not seeing Rex for days afterwards.

He’d kind of known he wouldn’t get away with sneaking off.

Before he could get out the door, Kai had grabbed him. It wasn’t a friendly grab, his grip rough and bruising.

“Where’ve you been?” Kai asked gruffly.

 There was no way Weevil was going to tell him; Rex’s house was the only place where no one would find him. He didn’t think Kai really cared where he’d been – he was only concerned when Weevil was going to be leaving again.

Weevil said nothing and tried to slip out of the man’s grip. Kai roughly jerked him back, spinning him around to face him.

“I _said,_ where’ve you been?” Kai said.

“Nowhere,” Weevil said. “I’m going out again after breakfast.” He couldn’t look Kai in the eye, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

Sure enough, his head was snapped to the side a second later by Kai’s vicious backhand. He kept his head down, hardly daring to breathe but Kai just pushed past roughly and headed back to Wendy.

“Mind your manners, runt”, he called over his shoulder.

When he was sure Kai wasn’t coming back, Weevil headed for the nearest mirror, trying not to panic.

Kai had just hit him in the face. How was he going to cover this up? It was easy when it was elsewhere and he could just pretend it was bullies at school. What was he going to say? This would kick start the whole thing with Rex again. There was no way he could ignore this and pretend he hadn’t noticed.

At least he probably wouldn’t see him for a few days, so Weevil had time to get this under control. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad…

It was that bad.

There was a big red mark on his cheek, just under his eye. Weevil could tell already that it was going to bruise. He didn’t want to fight with Rex about this but he honestly didn’t think he would be able to cover it up.

Thinking it might look better in a different lighting, Weevil went in search of another mirror. He found one in the entrance hall. If anything, it looked worse in the better lit room.

He didn’t know what to do.

He felt kind of numb as he mechanically got ready to leave, his thoughts racing. He couldn’t seem to focus on any one solution and all he could decide on right now was that he needed to get out of there.

He was already out the front gates before he wondered if he should have seen if his mother had left any of her cover up behind the last time she’d been here. He kept walking toward the bus stop.

Weevil took the bus into town and spent the day wandering aimlessly around the mall and town square. Some people took notice of the well forming bruise but no one seemed to care that much. He tried hard not to think about Kai but sometimes he couldn’t escape images of Kai’s former beatings and he’d have to stand in the street until he got rid of them. He thought they sometimes mixed together with other beatings he’d had, from Jorden and Rory and others, but they were mostly the same to him so he couldn’t be sure.

He missed Rex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i know i get annoyed when people have characters that are just dicks for no reason so i wanted to let you know that Kai and Wendy will be getting actual characters later on


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is a really short one, sorry about that

Rex blew smoke out the window, careful not to let any cigarette ash fall on the bed. He needed a way to relieve stress without moving too much. He’d been doing as little of that as possible the last few days. It hurt to move too much but his injuries had been pretty spread out, not focused in one area, so there was no crippling pain and he’d at least been able to keep up with the kids and the chores.

He took another drag. If his mum came home and caught him smoking, she’d kill him. When she came home last night, she had asked Rex where Weevil was. His mother seemed miffed when he told her he didn’t know, that he hadn’t spoken to him for a few days. He couldn’t be bothered explaining to her that if they were to see each other like this, they might have to admit that they cared about each other.

That was why they never spoke after encounters with their tormenters. They always left each other immediately after, without saying anything, because if they didn’t then they might say something they regretted. To be vulnerable in front of each other like that… it was bad enough when they were actually getting beaten, but afterwards?

He’d wanted to stay this time and it was bothering him. He’d wanted to stay and comfort Weevil and be comforted in return. When he imagined it, he got the same funny feeling as when he and Weevil were being close. And that was terrifying because he had no idea how Weevil would react, no idea how much he actually cared for Rex.

Because that was the problem; they never spoke. Rex had no idea what was going on in Weevil’s life and Weevil had no idea what was going on in his. They saw each other almost every day but they never spoke about themselves. And how could they start now?

How could Rex tell Weevil about the anger, the jealousy, the bitterness, the pressure from every side? Especially when he doubted Weevil would really understand. He had never been in the situation Rex was, having always been taken care of.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to tell him. Weevil had been making his life more difficult since day one, getting him into dangerous situations and convincing Rex to do some bad things, and he didn’t even seem to care. How could Rex trust someone like that?

He stubbed out the cigarette, throwing it out the window. He supposed he’d better go check on everyone. He’d actually been lucky to get ten minutes to himself but he could hear Rose shouting about something downstairs.

He was kind of glad it was Monday tomorrow; it meant he’d finally get some peace and quiet around here. Or maybe he’d go into school and see Weevil. Normally he’d leave it another day or two but…

He’d wait and see how he felt in the morning.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise bitch bet you thought you'd seen the last of this

Rex did go to school the next day. He walked with his brothers and Rose through the bad neighbourhoods; he tried his best to keep them in sight but they were wild kids. They all were, and of course their mother did her best, but they couldn’t help being ‘problem children’, as the teachers said. He was very adamant about them all going though, even if he doubted it was doing most of them any good. Rose was particularly prone to giving up around third period and just going home. Their unruly group arrived at the school and they all split up, Rex going to find Weevil. Since there was still a little time before school started, he found him in his usual spot outside.

  
Weevil didn’t look up, even though he must have heard him approaching. Rex stopped hesitantly a few feet away. Maybe he should have left it another couple of days? But he pushed on and went to sit beside Weevil in the damp grass. He didn’t look up, staring down at a caterpillar on his hand.

  
“Hey,” Rex said.

  
“Hey.”

  
Rex fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. He totally should have left it another couple of days; this was way too soon. Well, too late now. He wanted to ask if Weevil was alright but worried that might be pushing the boundaries.

  
“Well, are you gonna look at me or not? Quit being a jerk, bug brains!” Oh my god, Rex, he thought, you could at least have been more sensitive than that.

  
Weevil did not look up. His hair was falling into his face; he'd need a haircut soon, Rex realised. He didn't know what to do, should he leave or stick it out? Weevil was so distant, a mystery, something that Rex looked at but never understood. Like those ladies at the park who have nothing better to do all day than take their kids on a stroll. He didn't know what to do, so he defaulted onto the one thing that they would always have in common. Duel Monsters.

  
“Did you hear what Kaibacorp is bringing out next? Some virtual reality land, or something. It sounds pretty cool but I bet it'll cost a ton, huh?” Rex tried, looking hopefully at where Weevil was still resolutely looking down.

  
“No, I didn't,” he replied shortly. He shifted away and gently put the caterpillar down on a branch.

  
“Oh. Well... did you see the new cards they're releasing next month. That dragon one-”

  
“No, I didn't see them. OK?” Weevil's head whipped round, revealing his face to Rex. “I've been busy, unlike you who has nothing better to do than bother me!”

  
Rex stared. There was something off about his face. A slight discolouration on his cheek, just under his eye. Was it a trick of the light? But Rex knew Weevil's face and that was not normal.

  
“Well?” Weevil demanded. “Aren't you going to say something? What are you looking at?”

  
“What is that?” Rex said, pointing at Weevil's face.

  
The other boy's eyes widened and he slapped a hand over the mark. Rex leaned forward and grabbed his wrist, pulling the hand away. For a second he could see a large area of lighter bruise as well, before Weevil jerked away.

  
“Stop manhandling me! Why do you always do that?” Weevil screeched.

  
Rex ignored him. “What the fuck is that?” Weevil flinched. “God dammit, I knew it wasn't just one time!”

  
“It's none of your business,” Weevil burst out. He jumped up and turned away, crossing his arms. “I told you last time that it's nothing to do with you.”

  
“How come, huh?” Rex said, throwing his arms out. Why didn't Weevil just let him help? “If you tell me, I'll... I'll deal with 'em for you.”

  
Weevil's face twisted cruelly. “Like you dealt with Rory and Jordan? And all the others?”

  
Rex felt heat in his cheeks. Is that what Weevil thought? That he couldn't do anything. Well, he was right. Rex had tried to fight and always failed. He tried and tried and somehow still ended up like this – useless to his only friend.

  
“Well, maybe if you didn't keep dragging me into trouble, I wouldn't have to deal with them at all.” He hadn't meant to say that but it was true. Weevil was a bully magnet whereas Rex had been ok before they met. “My life would be a lot better if you didn't keep dragging me down! I don't know why I'm still hanging around.”

  
Weevil sucked in a surprised breath, suddenly feeling that tears were imminent. He didn't know why. He shouldn't be surprised that Rex was leaving, with how he treated him, and he was aware that he was fundamentally useless to him.

  
“Fine. Run away then. I don't care. But don't come crawling back to me when you realise you don't have any friends.” Weevil spat out. He hoped Rex didn't hear the tears in his voice.

  
Rex did not. As far as he was concerned, Weevil didn't want him. And good riddance. It was time to get his life back on track and step one was getting rid of Weevil. Was he running away? Rex never ran from anything – he was just taking out the trash, so to speak.

  
“I won't,” Rex said. “If I had never listened to you, maybe I'd be Duel Monsters champ right now. Or at least, I'd still be a respected duellist.” He clenched his fists. “You dragged me into all kinds of trouble, you know? And I don't think you even cared. Well, not any more. I'm done with you.” He turned and stomped off, belatedly realising that first period had started long ago.

  
One less thing to worry about, he thought. All that time spent troubling himself with Weevil and the kid probably didn't notice once. Who cares how that bruise got there anyway? Rex knew Weevil had money – he probably had some mansion to go home to, with some nice parents willing to throw money around on whatever he wanted. Who could ask for more?

  
What did Rex have? Money trouble, sibling trouble, nothing but trouble. But the biggest cause of trouble, Weevil, was gone. Rex was never going back.

  
It was over.

  
*

  
Weevil leant against the tree. He reached up to wipe his eyes. God, why did he always do that? He couldn't help it sometimes - he just had to push and push until something gave. First, it was Duel Monsters. He was never happy with just enjoying the game, he had to win. And then he had to rub it in everyone's faces, to show that he was better.

  
Now, it was Rex. He had only been trying to help, Weevil knew that. He had wanted it, too. But he was glad he hadn't accepted it because now he had managed to push Rex away. And if he had left, how much did he care about Weevil really? He probably only stuck around to leech off of his superior intellect. Well, Weevil didn't need him anyway.

  
Just because Rex was the one who always tried to protect him, and stand up to the bullies, didn't mean Weevil needed him. A lesser man might say it was bravery that had Rex getting back up every time, but Weevil saw it for what it was – stupidity. Weevil would be fine on his own – resisting had never worked anyhow. He would be better off without Rex.

  
It was over.


	12. Chapter 12

Weevil went to class alone. He sat alone, at the back. It was harder to get stared at or hit with things there. At lunch, he almost went back to the scene of the fight. He ate lunch in the bathroom instead. He must have done a good job with the make-up this morning because no one commented on his face. When school was over, he left alone.

He didn't go to the bus stop. In fact, his feet had automatically started in the direction of Rex's house, before he caught his mistake. He stopped in the middle of the street. 

Going home meant the possibility of running into Kai. Weevil didn't know what he'd done to him. Which was strange, because Weevil was a little shit, and usually pissed people off on purpose. But he had never been interested in Wendy's boy toys and Kai had been no exception.

He couldn't go to Rex any more. It wasn't just him either. His mother had always been kind to Weevil. His siblings had provided noise and distraction, something Weevil hadn't appreciated at first but had grown on him a great deal. Rex's grandmother thought he was a little kid, because he was so short, but she snuck him treats sometimes. 

It had just struck him how much he had given up. Too late now. He wasn't going to grovel at Rex's feet for forgiveness just so he could hang out with his family. Weevil was not pathetic. 

He went to the arcade alone. He played everything, from the new first person shooters to the classics like PAC-Man. He tried to lose himself in the game each time, so that he wouldn't remember the countless hours he and Rex had wasted here. 

But it was so hard to forget where he was. He'd catch a whiff greasy pizza or his attention would be grabbed by some kid yelling at their game. And then he'd recognise the arcade and he'd automatically turn to Rex, because of course he was there, why would Weevil come alone? But he wasn't there. 

Weevil persevered. He just had to get used to Rex not being there. The boy had spent so much time pathetically trailing after Weevil, from the moment he had won the Regional Championships. He had to admire Rex's dedication though. Not many people would have trekked across the desert for him. 

The game fell silent in front of him, flashing GAME OVER. Weevil's mind was no longer in the game, nor in the arcade at all. He was reliving the time when, after waking up from a coma post Orichalcos disaster, Rex and Weevil had decided to walk across the desert together in search of the Kaiba Corp. Grand Prix. 

The journey had almost been wiped from his mind, forgotten after their humiliating defeat at the hands of Siegfried von Schroeder. Rex had stood by him that time. When Weevil had lost faith, Rex had encouraged him to keep going. 

Perhaps they had had some good times. He was starting to realise that snapping at Rex may have cost him more than he knew at the time. 

No matter. Rex had been useful to him, and his family had been nice and all, but Weevil had never been emotionally invested. They were all just habits he had allowed himself to fall into. But Weevil was a well-brought-up child; he wasn't allowed bad habits. No nail biting, no swearing, no smoking or drinking, no Rex. 

Even if he had thought once that Rex might help him. 

It was time to go cold turkey. He'd probably never even speak to Rex again. And good rid-

“Oi!” 

A hand was waving in front of his face. Weevil jerked back, half expecting it to be somebody he knew, as was his luck. It wasn't. Just some kid wanting to play the game he had been sitting in front of. He told the kid to buzz off and played one more round out of spite. 

He stayed until closing time and when the door had shut behind him, courtesy of a disgruntled manager, Weevil just stood there and breathed in the night air. It was totally dark outside but there was no peace in the city. Cars buzzed past at the edge of the pavement, garish electric lights chasing away the natural shadows. 

It was time to go home. 

He got on the bus, along with a couple of businessmen. There was a group of teenagers and a man sat bundled up at the back. There was a different driver at this time, one Weevil had never seen before because, usually, if it was this late he would just stay over at Rex's. 

Weevil sat on the other side of the bus from the teens and behind them. They made him nervous, even though they didn't go to his school. In fact, on closer inspection, they were probably foreign. But Weevil had never had more than just himself and Rex, and this group was four strong. They intimidated him with numbers alone.

He watched them as they got off, laughing together. He turned to stare at them as the bus drove away. They had looked like good kids, nice, responsible, obviously on some wholesome extracurricular foreign exchange trip. They kind of reminded him of Yugi and his friends. He despised them.

Weevil aggressively tried to think about something else. Thoughts about Yugi would lead to unpleasant memories, all of them featuring Rex.

The street lamps flashing past lulled him into a doze. It really was late and he hadn't even eaten anything since lunch. Would there be food at home? Wendy always ate out and God knows Weevil was never there. The last few days were the most he had been home for weeks. 

He was only barely conscious of the other passengers leaving. By the time they had left the city proper, he was the only one still on the bus. The further out they got, the more the bus driver started giving him suspicious looks. Hardly anybody ever got off at his stop.

It probably didn't help that it was completely dark out and he may have smelled like arcade. 

Whatever. The driver didn't bother Weevil as he got off and he was left to wander home. He took his time, the exhaustion fully caught up by now. No one else wandered this street – anyone who had reason to be out here certainly had no reason to walk. He pulled his uniform jacket closed as he approached his house.

The gates were open. That in and of itself was odd – open gates represented friendliness and welcome. On the rare occasions Wendy was feeling sociable, she used them to inspire splendour. 

Weevil stood staring at them, for a moment wondering if he had the wrong house. Wendy didn't go out often, preferring to stay in the centre of her web and send massages to her groupies. The only person who ever used the gate was Kai and they wouldn't leave it open for him. 

The second odd thing was that the lights were all on. The house shone brightly in the darkness, its windows casting a warm glow on the front lawn. Now Weevil knew something was up. 

A guest. That must be it – who else would they pull out all the stops for?

But who? Weevil wondered. He started crunching up the path. A friend of Wendy's, obviously. Weevil could think of no other reason for someone to be invited to their home. The question was; who did Wendy know that was so important?

He came up to the front door and pushed inside. Immediately he noticed several things which made his heart sink. 

The first was that he could hear servants in the dining hall. He could hear cutlery clanging together and dishes rattling. There were only two people in the world who insisted on using the formal dining hall. 

Next, where Mr Vincent's study was normally silent, now there were voices to be heard within. Though Weevil could not hear what they were saying, they all carried the same tone of smug satisfaction. With what, Weevil dearly wished to know. 

And finally, there was a veritable mountain of suitcases by the foot of the stairs.


	13. Chapter 13

Rex stood and surveyed the kitchen. Getting his life back on track. Right, now where to start? He figured he should start with cleaning up the house a little. What was that quote? Change starts at home, or something. 

Dread settled in as he looked around. The house was a dump. It wasn't filthy or anything but, well. There was a lot of clutter, he decided. He'd just clear it all out, only keep what they needed. 

Rex managed to make decent progress... in the kitchen. There was a black plastic bag in the middle of the floor, slowly filling with all the junk that Rex found in the cabinets and on the counters. Seriously, what was half of this stuff even doing in a kitchen? The kids had probably just dumped it on the first available space and left. No wonder nobody around here could ever find anything. 

The problem, Rex was beginning to realise, was that he kept getting distracted. Baby Rhys sat playing in his travel cot near the table. He was still really young, so normally Rex could rely on him to sleep most of the time, and he only needed to bother him when it was feeding or changing time. But lately, Rhys had started becoming more active. Ma, when she was here, loved using that word. Rex would describe it more as 'fussy' himself. 

Eventually, Rex gave up. Between Rhys' fussing and the sheer volume of things in the house, he was overwhelmed. He picked Rhys up from the cot and moved to the living room. Nana had taken the younger two brothers with her grocery shopping. Rex had lost track of the others after walking home from school together earlier. 

He grabbed Rhys' dummy from the coffee table. He wasn't going to school tomorrow. He needed a plan. A long term plan, a list of goals, something. 

He got Rhys settled and leaned back. OK, step one; he was going to quit school. He was old enough and he never went any ways. He had been turning up more than usual lately, but so what? Rex was hardly the academic type; what good was it going to do him?

Maybe if he had put all that effort he did into school, instead of Duel Monsters, then he might have stood a chance at getting into a university. Weevil somehow still had good grades, the kid was pretty smart and he looked pretty good for university.

God damn it, Rex, he thought, can't even go twelve hours without thinking about him.

It was fine. It was just habit to think of Weevil when they had been together so long. Not together together! They had just hung out, spent almost all their free time together, slept in the same bed more than once... 

Sure, they had been through some tough times together but, Rex thought, Weevil obviously didn't care about any of that. He didn't care about any of it, happy to just abandon Rex when it was convenient for him, never mind the mess he left behind... 

Rhys began to stir, kicking his legs and making little upset noises. Rex got up and began bouncing him. Rhys got quiet and Rex pulled him close and rocked him gently.

What was he going to do?

He couldn't get a job – he had to be at home to take care of the kids. Nana tried to act like she was real tough, yelling and banging if they misbehaved. She did a good job but she was an old lady now. She couldn't keep up with the little ones all day every day.

Maybe it was selfish of Rex, but he didn't want to do it.

It was at times like these that he thought about Rohan. His big brother. Gone, just like their father, except he actually managed to stop in occasionally. 

Now, don't get it twisted; Rohan was not a good big brother. He was mean. Couldn't hold down a job for nothing. 

All the same, Rex wished he were here. Even just so he could say 'Hey, don't look at me. He's the oldest'. Or, at the very least, he could leave Rohan at home and get a job himself. 

Then the moment passed and Rex reminded himself that Rohan was a terrible influence. He encouraged Rosie's fights, didn't care what the kids got up to, upset Nana. 

He sighed, his shoulders slumped. All of his grandiose plans and they didn't even last a day. He really was a loser. He couldn't even do a thing, every time he tried to fight back, he just wasn't strong enough. He was an outdated duellist, a weak nobody. Weevil at least could say he won something but who remembers the runner up?

He needed to get out of the house. Do something. Maybe if he went out, took a break, and came back in with a fresh pair of eyes, maybe then the house wouldn't look so daunting. 

He shrugged on his old green jacket and his hat. Rhys got strapped into his stroller and they were off, the rusty metal gate swinging shut behind them. He turned left, towards the park. 

Rex had never understood how some moms seemingly had all the time in the world, to take their kids to the park, to ferry them to all these stupid clubs, go to PTA meetings. He'd always thought they must be rich, to be able to not work. That they had it easy. But as Rex walked to the park, he realised that's exactly what he'd be doing, if he quit school. He would be just like them. 

And wasn't that a kicker? Rex Raptor feared dino-duellist, now stay at home mom. 

What would Weevil think, if he saw the direction Rex's life now seemed to be heading? It wasn't as if it hadn't been going this way for a long time – hell, Weevil had seen him in plenty of compromising domestic positions – but now it seemed more apparent than ever. At least before, he'd had Weevil to distract him, so even if he was stuck doing the cooking, cleaning, childminding, it still felt as if he was just hanging out. 

As he walked along the forest path to the play area, he couldn't help but remember getting beat up behind those trees. God, it hadn't even been that long ago. Lying there and getting beat up, totally unable to help himself. Rex was determined that his life was going to be better now. 

He broke through the trees and there were Rosie and the others. She was all grouped together on one of the climbing frames with her friends and her brothers seemed content to stay out of her way. Rex didn't want to know what they were doing up there. He felt, as her big brother, that he should investigate but honestly, the day had been taxing enough already. 

He pretty much collapsed into the sandbox, letting out a deep sigh. Rhys seemed perfectly content to play there. Too bad Rex hadn't thought to bring any of their beach stuff. Did they even have beach stuff? He didn't know. Rex added 'clear out the shed' to his to do list. 

As he sat and watched Rhys babble to himself as he flung sand about, Rex let himself relax and drift off. It was nice at the park, surrounded by his family. There weren't too many other people besides them; there was a couple walking along the outer edges and some older kids over by the swings. It was getting pretty late. Rex suddenly realised that none of the kids had had dinner. He groaned out loud, prompting a curious 'Uh?' from Rhys. At least he had remembered to feed him. 

It wasn't his fault, Rex rationalised. None of the kids had been at home to get fed anyway. In fact, he had probably just missed Nana when he went out and she would back at the house cooking. And they hadn't complained so... It was fine. 

Maybe he wasn't cut out for this mom bullshit after all.


End file.
